IDA Staff Unveils Plan To Unionize As Documentary Group Faces Ongoing Strife
deadline.comEXCLUSIVE: Dwindling staff at the International Documentary Association are pursuing plans to unionize, Deadline has learned.The 11 remaining full-time staff members below the level of senior manager voted unanimously to organize as the Documentary Workers Union, under Communications Workers of America local 9003.
They sent a statement to IDA executive director Rick Pérez on Monday morning informing him of the decision, and gave him 24 hours to grant “voluntary recognition” of the union.The unionization push “comes as staff face unprecedented challenges at the organization,” the IDA staffers wrote in a release obtained by Deadline. “Since December 2021, nearly 50% of staff has left the organization, many in protest to the fact that numerous concerns raised by staff remain unaddressed.”As Deadline has reported, four senior managers quit the IDA in early January after filing a complaint against Pérez accusing him of regularly engaging in abusive conduct.
The complaint also criticized actions taken by the IDA board, which the managers said undermined the nonprofit’s stated mission to support diversity, equity and inclusion in the documentary field.
The IDA has continued to shed staff in recent weeks: Trent Nakamura, awards campaign and strategic partnerships manager, resigned March 8, and Susan Q.
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